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Guillaume Apollinaire. On poetry and ergodic literature. Guillaume Apollinaire. “Poetry as usually read today, silently and from a monotonously printed text, fails to exploit its two principal sensuous aspects ” * shape *sound. Guillaume Apollinaire. Poetry as a visual experience:
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Guillaume Apollinaire On poetry and ergodic literature
Guillaume Apollinaire “Poetry as usually read today, silently and from a monotonously printed text, fails to exploit its two principal sensuous aspects” *shape *sound
Guillaume Apollinaire Poetry as a visual experience: *figure & ground: the perception of dark figures arranged on a light surface (or vice versa) -- type size, paragraphing, run-down pattern, generic forms etc. organization thought via visual arrangement (spatialization of text)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry Efforts to make a poem a distinct visual object… Some methods: Principle of the ideogram [a written sign that represents an idea or thing rather than the sound of a word] Calligrammes (visual + verbal composition)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry What are “Calligrammes”? Plastic arrangement of words on writing surfaces “visual lyricism” Visual poetry / spatial poetry
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry What are “Calligrammes”? Visual poetry / spatial poetry Derived from TWO techniques – Fragmentation Recombination (of fragments) (in his conversation poems)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry What are “Calligrammes”? Fragmentation / Recombination Simultaneous nature of consciousness (abandoning) Discursive expression Linear layout of poem
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry What are “Calligrammes”? Fragmentation / Recombination Typographical revolution – “It is necessary that our intelligence become accustomed to understanding synthetico-ideographically instead of analytico-discursively.” (G. Arbouin)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry Three different fashions in the plastic arrangement of words (Calligrammes): (1) to represent the objects being described (2) to represent a total conception of the order of the world or of the universe (3) to express a movement of thought within the poem (writing for the eye)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry To represent the objects being described e.g. Paysage (Landscape), La Cravate et la Montre (The Tie and the Watch), Il Pleut (It’s Raining)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry To represent a total conception of the order of the world or of the universe e.g. Lettre-Océan (Ocean Letter)
Guillaume Apollinaire: poetry To express a movement of thought within the poem (writing for the eye): e.g. Visée (Aim)
Guillaume Apollinaire Poetry as an aural experience: Sound of the words in combination
Apollinaire: Poetry as an aural experience :Sound of the words in combination: 2 methods (1) To write while humming a tune to whose rhythm he could fit words [to upkeep meter-consciousness] (2) “Poemes conversations” [combining at random the odd sentences and phrases that occurred to him or that he overheard]
Poetry as an aural experience Sound of the words in combination Pure sound: Exploration of vowel qualities, alliteration, rhymes etc. e.g. “Voyage à Paris” (Voyage to Paris)
Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrammes Espen J. Clarseth cites Apollinaire’s non-linear texts in “calligrammes” as examples of ergodic literature which also characterizes the cybertextual process See his book, Cybertext Perspectives on Ergodic Literature